Hailing from the most isolated city in the world & rising from the ashes of Never Settle, Denial formed with a vengeance & a purpose; to bring thought back to Perth’s budding hardcore scene. Dropping the ‘Condemned to Repeat’ EP and recently releasing a split with Melbourne’s Blinded, Denial have demonstrated their musical strengths & determination. Taking inspirations from 90’s hardcore definers like Buried Alive, Indecision and Turmoil, the band have had opportunities to play along- side international acts such as Foundation as well as some of Australia’s biggest up and comers like Cursed Earth, Rebirth and Burning Season to name a few. With their first year being so bright we quizzed them on what the future holds for them.

Tell us who you are and who else is in the band?

My name is James and I play guitar in Denial with my friends Joel on vocals, Sean on bass, Declan on drums and Danny on guitar.

Did Denial form while Never Settle was still around or who initiated it all?

Denial came around because we were all sick of playing as Never Settle but didn’t want to stop writing music together, so we just ditched it all and started writing better things.What were the main influences for the sound of Denial? And what’s your favourite comparison you’ve heard so far?
​Without a doubt Buried Alive and Foundation are probably our biggest influences, but we draw influence from from lots of different aspects of heavy music.I haven’t really experienced many different comparisons, I have gotten a couple “Holy f*ck you’s guys are heavy” from a handful drunk guys at 18+ shows

Denial playing Day 1 of Lairapalooza 2016 in Melbourne - July 2016

There’s quite a bit of a sound influence between Never Settle and Denial, what inspired the change?

When we were Never Settle we didn’t really know what we wanted to do, we didn’t have a style in mind and by the time we found a style we wanted to pursue we were ready to call it quits. I guess the change came about because we didn’t want to be associated with that past.Perth seems to be booming at the moment after years of laying dormant, what if anything has caused the change? And what do you think can be done to preserve it?
​Better bands and more people/locals to care about those bands and support them. We need to keep pumping out better releases, have parts in putting shows on and have other things, aside the music, to draw people to the shows (bake sales/merch swaps/etc). I really do feel like we need more younger kids that play instruments or want to play.

​If Denial were stuck on a desert island and could only have 3 records to listen to for the rest of eternity, what would they be?

This is a tough one and I think we could agree on these though:
Foundation - When The Smoke Clears
Parkway Drive - Killing With A Smile
Buried Alive - The Death Of Your Perfect World

​Over the course of 12 months you’ve been able to release a demo and a split with Blinded, how did the split come about?

We all knew James Hutchins from Blinded for a few years now from a (failed) split that we did with his old band Stuck Below. We had already planned on doing the split before we released our demo, after a few hiccups it finally happened.

Denial supporting The Others at Flyrite in Perth - April 2016. Photo by Liam Allomes.

​Grave of Compassion talks about the evils of the traditions of modern society, what are some of the evils that Denial would want to see changed the most?
​Without coming across like we’re looking to change the world, we all hold strong views on animal rights and believe that the enslavement and suffering of animals should be eradicated. Among other topics as well. Obviously it can’t be done just by 5 people, but that’s why we write about positive change so that it is heard by those who choose to listen.

Of all the songs that have been written so far, what’s your favourite so far? And why?

Probably Persecution because it’s heavy as hell and the crowd participation is amazing in that song! But we did just write a new song with possibly one of the heaviest breakdowns we’ve ever written.After years of dumbing down do you think hardcore is finally growing a social consciousness again?
​Yes definitely! It’s great that there are so many more bands hitting important subjects like feminism, transphobia and veganism more!

Denial supporting Foundation in Melbourne at The Rev - March 2016. Photo by Blake Baric.

Denial shares members with other Perth bands, does it even get difficult to juggle them around?

Yeah, without a doubt, it’s pretty tough for me trying to juggle around 2 bands, a job and a social life. Especially now that Unravel and Denial are both writing so much and so often!What’s coming up next for Denial? What does the future hold?
​We’re currently writing for out next release and are going to be taking, after our next show, a few months off to work on finishing it and recording it.

Has to be the Rebirth Perth weekender, lots of good times were had with lots of good friends, lots of good bands were playing and Baking Point were there!

If you could compare each member of the band to any musician throughout time, who would they be?

Joel would be Peter Garrett from Midnight Oil because he has some real hectic dance moves. Declan would be Dave Grohl because he can riff for days and drums like a madman. Sean would be Ned from Title Fight because he slap da ba$$ and is always nice and easy to talk to. Danny would be Mark Palm because like Devotion he can drop off the grid for a while but has so many riffs up his sleeves that he has to wear XXL shirts to fit them all.